Colette (2020 Film)
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''Colette'' is a 2020 French-language American
documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
directed by Anthony Giacchino and produced by Alice Doyard, Annie Small and Aaron Matthews.


Plot

Together with aspiring historian Lucie Fouble, 90-year-old
French Resistance The French Resistance ( ) was a collection of groups that fought the German military administration in occupied France during World War II, Nazi occupation and the Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy#France, collaborationist Vic ...
fighter Colette Marin-Catherine travels to
Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to: *Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany ** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district ** Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city *Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen) * Narost, ...
to visit
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora (also Dora-Mittelbau and Nordhausen-Dora) was a Nazi concentration camp located near Nordhausen in Thuringia, Germany. It was established in late summer 1943 as a subcamp of Buchenwald concentration camp, supplying slave labour f ...
. Until then, she had avoided visiting the place where her brother, Jean-Pierre, died. The whole family was active in the resistance. She wrote down the registration numbers of passing trucks. Her brother had collected weapons for the resistance and was arrested in the process. He died in the concentration camp at the age of 19 as a result of forced labor combined with malnutrition. Because of her experiences, she avoided traveling to
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. Fouble contacted her after researching her brother. When they first meet, Fouble asks if they could take Jean Pierre's photo on the trip. Colette tells how her father had hid a camera under his shirt while visiting in order to take the photo. While on the train to Nordhausen, Colette talks about how she felt distant from her brother, and describes how she felt guilty when her mother wished that she had been taken in place of Jean-Pierre. At Nordhausen, the former mayor wants to say a few words to Colette, but she interrupts him, saying that she is not feeling well. The next day, they visit the concentration camp's memorial site. They see the prison block that her brother likely slept in, as well as the tunnels where prisoners were forced to build
V-2 rocket The V2 (), with the technical name ''Aggregat (rocket family), Aggregat-4'' (A4), was the world's first long-range missile guidance, guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the S ...
s. While looking over the ruins of the prison block, Colette bursts into tears as she had forgotten to bring flowers for her brother. After visiting the camp's crematorium, she presents Fouble with a ring Jean-Pierre had made for her mother.


Background

The film was directed by Anthony Giacchino and produced by Alice Doyard, Aaron Matthews, and Annie Small. It was released by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''. The idea came to the team when they were filming a documentary about a U.S.
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
veteran who made an emergency landing in
Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
during
Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...
. Their guide introduced them to Colette Marin-Catherine. An interview ensued, but the filmmakers did not want a simple portrait. At first, they seemed unable to persuade Marin-Catherine to visit Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp because of her strong aversion to the place, or to Germany in general, and because she had spent 70 years trying to forget the past. During their research, however, they came across Lucie Fouble, a historian, who was doing research on her brother. With Fouble's support, they succeeded in making the film. The filmmakers paid attention to reverence and gave Marin-Catherine the opportunity to determine when the camera should stop filming. Before each scene, they outlined how they would film that scene, but gave Fouble control over the scene and the freedom to express her feelings, as well as the final word.


Accolades

It won the
Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announ ...
at the
93rd Academy Awards The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored films released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. The ceremony was held on April 25, 2021 ...
. Co-produced by Oculus and
Respawn Entertainment Respawn Entertainment, LLC is an American video game development studio founded in 2010 by Jason West and Vince Zampella and owned by Electronic Arts since 2017. West and Zampella previously co-founded Infinity Ward and created the ''Call of D ...
as part of the documentary gallery for the virtual reality video game '' Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond'', ''Colette'' is the first film produced by a video game studio to win or be nominated for an Academy Award.


References


External links


Official website

''Colette''
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Colette 2020 films 2020 short documentary films 2020s French-language films American short documentary films Best Documentary Short Subject Academy Award winners Documentary films about the Holocaust Films scored by Nami Melumad Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp 2020s American films